Free Your Irresistible Love by Layla Hagen Page A

overcoming an addiction, right?
    I am addicted to Ava Lindt. There, I admitted it. I have a hunch that in my case, admission won’t help me overcome it. In fact, I don’t want to be cured. I want her, and I will have her. One kiss wasn’t nearly enough. Ava Lindt is unlike any woman I’ve met, and she’s fucking perfect. 
    Alarm bells ring somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I should control myself and not jump straight into this, considering my past relationships. I should be careful; I want to be reckless instead. I need it.
    “Sebastian, I’m talking to you,” Logan says.
    “Huh?”
    “You either have developed adult-onset ADD, or you’re thinking about a woman.”
    “Logan, don’t get on my bad side today—”
    “It’s Ava, isn’t it?” When I don’t answer, he pumps his fist in the air. The gesture wouldn’t look half as ridiculous if we were on a soccer field, instead of in my office wearing suits. “Did you do her?”
    “If you speak of her like that again. . .” I give him a meaningful look.
    He flaps his hand dismissively, rising from his chair. “I can recite at least ten dirtier ways of saying that. If I call up Blake or Daniel, we can get that number to twenty.”
    “Stop thinking in numbers all the time. And no, we didn’t. I’m working on it.”
    Pacing in front of my desk, he says, “If you finally found a woman who isn’t working on bagging you, she’s a keeper.”
    “Interesting yardstick you’re using.” My clipped tone does nothing to tone down his enthusiasm. I decide to keep to myself that she all but told me I was out of my mind when I gave her a ruby and expected her to accept it. He’ll tell me to marry her. I swore off that years ago, after one too many disappointments with women. Ava’s here for four months, and she said she doesn’t want to do long-distance relationships. We can enjoy each other while she’s here, no other expectations.
    “I can’t wait to tell Pippa.”
    I eye my brother. “What are you? The family’s messenger? Don’t tell her anything, or I won’t hear the end of it. Why don’t we actually talk about the next meeting?”
    “That’s what I was here for before you fell into your weird trance.” He drops in his seat again, and we go through the retail stores’ numbers. Some of the stores are underperforming, such as Tylon’s and Derenbilt.
    “We have to cut Tylon's loose. It’s bleeding money and they keep making empty promises.”
    “I agree. Derenbilt is also disappointing. We’ll give them until the end of this quarter to deliver results, or stop our collaboration.”
    Logan nods. We talk about the upcoming meeting a while longer, and then he says, “Pippa’s refusing to let me go with her to the divorce hearing.”
    “I know; she doesn’t want me there either.” When she told me that she and Terence have the first hearing coming up, I insisted on going with her, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
    “I don’t want her to see him on her own again. What are we going to do about it? ” 
    “Nothing. She’s a grown woman. We have to respect her decisions.” 
    “I hate it when you’re being sensible.” Logan snorts, looking away. “It makes me look like even more of a hothead. I want to make sure our sister is all right and that asshole gets what he deserves.” He balls his hands into fists.
    “So do I. Which is why he’ll go bankrupt faster than he can sign the divorce papers. I had some interesting calls from people he wants to work with. Apparently, he listed Bennett Enterprises as a client.”
    Logan snaps his head to me, his eyes bulging. “I knew he was an asshole. I never realized he was a blithering idiot too. He actually had the guts to list us? We set that business up for him so he wouldn’t feel inferior. Can’t believe we worried about his ego,” he finishes through gritted teeth.
    “We were worrying about Pippa, and his ego was hurting her.” When Terence started showing his true colors, Pippa